


We Have Time

by Syphus



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Knights of Winter (D&D)
Genre: Background Relationships, Bromance, Could be romance if you squint, Critical Role guests, Enemies to Friends, Fluff and Angst, Hero's Pet Goblinn, Light Angst, M/M, Tal'Dorei, Trust Issues, Weddings, bella just trying to be a good friend, cursing, featuring bella's crush on the captain of the guard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 03:52:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15810765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syphus/pseuds/Syphus
Summary: It's Jon's opening night of the Hero's Pet Goblinn and Dinton just has to mess it up.





	We Have Time

**Author's Note:**

> My DM, Darcy, based his campaign in Critical Role's universe, so there are a few characters whom you might recognize.
> 
> Have questions on who characters are? Want to see more of a character or learn more about a mysterious detail you don't understand? Let me know in the comments, I'd be happy to explain!
> 
> Enjoy~

“What a- what a fucking asshole!”

“Jon, please-,” the door slammed in Bella’s face and she could hear him storming around his room.

“Gods, what a dick! How can someone be so inconsiderate? He could’ve killed us! He almost did kill us! Fuck!” Something crashed against the wall and Bella flinched, taking a step back from the door.

“Jon, you need to calm down. You’re blowing things out of proportion.”

“Me? Blow things out of proportion?” The door whipped open and Jon’s burly frame filled the doorway. “How can you not see how shitty that was, Bella? He could’ve killed us! Was _this_ close to it!” He shoved his hand towards her, thumb and index fingers pressed tight together. The elf pushed his hand out of her face, one eyebrow raising and the corners of her mouth turned down.

“Jon, I don’t think you understand what you’re implying. Dinton didn’t intend to hurt anyone and no one got hurt. You’re just upset he ruined your opening night.”

“That isn’t- that’s a fucking stupid reason to be upset.”

“Which is why you’re being stupid right now. Stop destroying your room and start thinking about someone other than yourself or that guy. It’s probably unhealthy or something.” Jon furrowed his brows and turned back to his room.

“Whatever. Just leave it alone. I’ll deal with him by myself.”

“Jon. Don’t do something you’ll regret. Don’t… I don’t know. Just don’t do anything more stupid than usual.” The elf closed the door, leaving Jon by himself. He’d thrown a vase, probably not expensive, and its green glass shards were glinting in the moonlight.

The moonlight… it was a full moon. The kind that was perfect for the night he’d been planning. His bar, Hero’s Pet Goblinn, was supposed to have a huge opening that night. And it was huge. People from cities all over Tal’Dorei had travelled to enjoy his bar and enjoy they did. Gilmore, his bartender for the night, was kept busy even with a full wait staff and every table had ten men to it, plus a few more crammed in. The people smiled, the performances were fantastic. _But that man…_ Jon thought, going to smash his fist into the wall. He stopped himself and rested his body against the wood. _What a foolish man._

There was a knock at the door. It was quiet, polite. Jon had half a mind to say nothing at all, but the knock came again. He turned and open the door. There, standing maybe an inch taller than him (though Jon would never admit that), was Jon’s worst nightmare.

 

* * *

 

The night was going great. Guests were filled with rum, the singers were dazzling, and everyone was generally having just a grand ol’ time. Dinton, however, was bored. He’d never been into these kinds of events, even at home. After the initial round of drinks provided by the goblin, Dinton had wandered off to one of the quieter corners. Quiet was a strong word, though. It just meant the people nearby weren’t too rowdy, but they made up for it in noise levels. His long pointed ears turned down in annoyance as he tried to bury himself in the rose wine Gilmore had specifically crafted for him. The elf orc glanced up into the crowd, eyes finding his party members almost immediately.

The goblin, Delp, was standing on a table and attempting a seductive dance but was definitely too drunk for the moves he was pulling. At his feet were Pyre and Aritian, egging on the shoddy dancer with fake tips. Bella sat next to Pyre, her fierce gaze following one of the guards at the loudest table in the tavern. And next to her was Jon. Six feet of muscle and anger, he actually looked a little bit happy for once. Weird. And with that thought, Dinton had an idea. If there was ever a doubt in his mind whether he should follow through, it was dashed by Jon glaring at him for a moment. _Fucking dick,_ he thought.

A few minutes later and some bribery of Gilmore for sweet oil and snake’s tongue, no questions asked, Dinton is hiding behind the stage’s jade green curtains. The singer on stage was Esmeralda, one of Aritian’s old friends who offered to perform and just so happened to be famous. Her crooning ended to the sound of heavy applause and she stepped backstage, almost bumping into Dinton.

“Oh! Sorry, are you the next performer? I still have another song.”

“Uh, no.” Dinton stepped back a bit. “I was just wondering if you’d like to have some water before you go back on stage?” He offered her a pint and she took it.

“Thank you, young man. What was your name again?”

“Don’t worry about it.” And he disappeared.

 

* * *

 

“What.”

“Hi.”

“Don’t say ‘hi’ at me. I’m mad at you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Dinton slid past Jon into the dark room, stepping over the vase shards as if they weren’t there and gracefully settling on the bed of dark jade sheets. “You like the color green.”

Jon crossed his arms, looking down his nose at the younger man. “Yeah? So? Why are you in my room? What do you want?”

“I… wanted to apologize. What I did was wrong. You were looking forward to tonight and rather than celebrate your accomplishment, I messed it up for you.”

It was as if Dinton had punched Jon in the sternum before throwing coffee into his eyes. “What? I don’t get it.”

“I’m saying sorry.”

“ _You?_ Say _sorry?_ Not till my dying days, you wouldn’t. Even then would be too soon. Are you mocking me?” Dinton glared up at the man still in the doorway, fists clenching.

“No, I’m not. Some people just want to be nice, okay? Has that never happened to you?”

“You fucking- you’re _such_ an asshole, y’know that? I don’t know how you can live with yourself.” He slammed the door, crunching over the glass to sit on the bed with a huff. His voice was unusually soft. “How can you put the party in danger so easily? You’ve done this before. I don’t even know if you _like_ any of us.”

“That isn’t true.” The elf orc slouched, clasping his hands together. “I just don’t know how you guys can get so close to each other so easily. You were all best friends after only a month of being together and now it’s more like some weird, fucked up family. I don’t get it.”

“We’re all fucked up people.” Jon turned to the man next to him. “Do you think any of us have an easy past? Even Bella, you saw what her homeland was like. And like attracts like, right? It just makes sense.”

Dinton snorted. “I guess, but that doesn’t explain why you guys trust each other at all. If you’re so messed up, shouldn’t you have trust issues or something?”

The bed creaked as Jon lifted his legs up to cross them under himself. He’d traded armor for a fancier outfit and had abandoned the jacket hours ago, so all that was left was his tunic and pants. “If we were worried about trust, it’d be hard to ever feel anything at all. Sure, we could get hurt. We’ve _been_ hurt because of it.

“Like Big leaving.”

“Like Big leaving. But we got a lot of good stuff in return. He and Bella got really close, he helped us find Pelor, and he was a good laugh all around. Like when he fought that giant woman in the mountains.” Dinton smiled, recalling the way the seven foot tall Firbolg had been slammed into the ground by the gladiator woman.

“That was a good moment.”

“Exactly. Life’s too short to worry about the people that could hurt you. If you do, you’ll never really be alive.”

“Wise words from someone who hates my guts.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Really?” Dinton glanced at the other man’s face, searching for any crack in the truth.

“I just hate how insincere you are. It seems like you don’t care about anything that doesn’t concern you.”

“That’s not… completely true. I’m just- I don’t know. There’s a lot going on and I don’t know how to do anything right.”

Jon leaned over to bump his shoulder against his companion’s, smiling at the sound of surprise coming from the younger man. “Dinton, you’re pretty young. You have a lot of time to learn about all the mistakes you could make and how not to make them. If you start regretting now, you’re going to run out of things to regret.”

“When did you start spitting out words of wisdom? You’re only a few years older than me, there’s not that much difference.”

“We’re nine years apart.”

“Yeah, not much difference. And when did you start keeping count?” Dinton raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

“Good question. Anyways,”  Jon waved his hand, brushing the topic aside, “if you’re so sorry about what you did tonight, you have to tell me how you did it.”

“So you can stop me next time?”

“So I can help you make it cooler.” Dinton looked at their two shadows cast over the vase's shards. The edges were sharp, made more obvious by the strong moon, but no light divided the figures where their shoulders would have been.

“Well, it started when I had to bribe Gilmore for snake tongue. Why he had it, I don’t know…”

 

* * *

 

It’s the reception of the wedding and everyone is decked to the nines in jewels and gold. There are thousands of flowers floating through the air, courtesy of Big’s druid magic, and the forest clearing is bright with laughter and dancing. On one table, Delp is drunkenly dancing while Aritian tries to pull him off and Pyre is folded over in laughter. Nearby, Bella and Big are talking through tears, trying to catch each other up on the recent past without breaking down in front of each other. On the other side of the clearing, Gilmore is chatting up a sun elf by the stage and further away, a short girl in blue is glaring up at the Queen who has her arm linked with Lady Cassandra. The clearing is full of joyous people, but empty of two guests.

On the stage, Esmeralda is finishing a love song. Her voice has only grown sweeter with age, though she was already very old, and her charming music ends with a round of applause. As she slips behind a white gold curtain, she barely stops short of bumping into two men crouched close.

“Oh! Dinton, right? And Jon? This is a familiar sight. I don’t suppose we could do without you magick-ing me this time?”

Dinton squints up at her, one hand dunked in a jar of sweet oil. “Sure, if you promise to keep quiet.”

Jon nods in agreement. “Yeah, no funny business. We’ll have your stage back to you in a bit.” Esmeralda smiles knowingly and continues off the stage into the crowd to enjoy the upcoming entertainment.

“Alright, so you remember the plan?”

“Dinton, we’ve been talking about this for way too long for me to forget the plan.” He pauses. “Do _you_ remember the plan?”

“Of course I do! Now hush, I’m going on.” And he disappears.

**Author's Note:**

> what a trip. a big thanks to my fellow players who put up with me pestering them about their characters while refusing to tell them what it was for. like ya'll are too nice. though, about half way through i gave up and just crossed my fingers that things wouldn't be awful. canonically, jon is 6ft tall and dinton is 6'5". i'm also pretty sure jon is the second shortest apart from delp, so it's a touchy subject.
> 
> whose wedding is it? well. i know whose wedding i want it to be, but that doesn't mean anything. could be pelor's wedding for all i know. he and big are a thing now.
> 
> if you can guess what spell dinton used, you get five internet cookies. snicker doodle, my favorite!
> 
> let me know if you see any mistakes or want me to add/remove tags.
> 
> thanks for reading!


End file.
